


with it all before you

by benditlikepress



Category: NCIS
Genre: Established Relationship, F/M, Family, vague tags bc spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-29
Updated: 2020-04-29
Packaged: 2021-03-01 17:27:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,050
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23910808
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/benditlikepress/pseuds/benditlikepress
Summary: A sickness bug hits the David-DiNozzo household.
Relationships: Ziva David/Anthony DiNozzo
Comments: 14
Kudos: 75





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> slight emetophobia warning for the beginnings of chapter 1 but it’s mild

"And I..-"

"Oh jeez.”

Tony sighed, mostly sympathetically, as Ziva ran out of the room and into the en-suite. He grimaced as he heard the by-now familiar sounds of someone emptying their stomach as he stroked Tali's hair away from her sweaty forehead.

"Ima's sick too."

"Uh-huh. She gave it to you."

"That's mean."

"I know it was, sweetheart.”

He kissed her forehead and gave her a squeeze before getting out of bed and following Ziva's footsteps into the bedroom.

She was leaning over the bowl with her hands bracing the wall, and Tony came up beside her and tucked her hair behind her ears.

"You OK?"

"I had hoped I was getting over it."

"Can't take you two anywhere, huh? You heard Tali throwing up all night and wanted some of the action."

Ziva hummed a tired amusement.

"You want some water?"

"Please. Hopefully this is the last of the bug leaving my system."

"Hope so." Tony took his glass out of the cabinet and rinsed it before filling it with water and placing it into Ziva's shaky hand. "Just Tali to deal with then."

Unlike with Ziva who’d had a couple of days of congestion before it started there’d been no warning for Tali, who went in a matter of hours from jumping on her bed to crying tucked in a blanket.

The first time Tali got sick after they moved to Paris Tony hadn’t slept for three days. He lay on the floor next to her bed, periodically checking on her, and at one point in his sleep-deprived panic he'd almost blown their cover entirely and called Ziva (who he hadn't heard from in a month and had been at that point, it turned out, in Jordan).

It was easier now, both the backup and reassurance that he did actually know what he was doing, most of the time, meaning he had at least got a couple of hours sleep to get him through work today.

"I feel awful."

"C'mere, come back to bed. Nurse Tali will look after you."

There was a time when Ziva would've denied she was sick until the cows came home, but it was difficult to do that with sweat plastering your hair to your forehead after a few days wrapped in blankets shuffling backwards and forwards from the bathroom to throw up.

Ziva walked back to bed with Tony's hand on her waist supportively. Tali had moved now from the space she had been occupying between them to fully commandeer Tony's half of the bed, stretched out like a starfish with a pile of pillows under her head and her thumb in her mouth.

"Are you staying home with me today?"

Ziva settled back down under the covers and didn't put up much of a fight as Tony tucked them around her. She was pale and still a little shaky but regardless reached out to cup Tali's cheek.

"Yes, I am. We can have a day in bed."

"Can we watch movies?"

"Maybe you can later. You and ima both need to sleep now, rascal. You've been up all night." Tony couldn't help but smile at Tali's expression in response to his words, defiant even when green in the face.

“Can you call Tali’s school? I will have to call the centre and tell them I will not be in this afternoon. I hate to mess them abound."

"Around. You're allowed to be sick, Ziva. You'll infect everyone."

Ziva worked as a women’s support worker at a contact centre for refugees. They relied on her a lot because of her ability to speak apparently every language on the planet, and the way she connected with victims of trauma. She had been thriving off it, though - valuing the feeling of being needed, and recently had been coming home some days with a smile on her face because positive progress had been made with a service user and she felt as though she was making a difference.

Tony got dressed and ready for work while Ziva and Tali lay together, eerily quietly for them. When he had his coat and shoes on he went to the kitchen and Tali's room to grab water, cold compresses, tissues, and blankets, piling them at the foot of the bed.

"OK, you need anything else? Can I get something to settle your stomach? Crackers?"

"If you mention food again I will not be held responsible for my actions."

"’Kay. Shutting up."

Ziva leaned forward to grab one of the bottles of water Tony had dropped there and took a few slow purposeful sips, frowning, before putting it on the table next to the bed. Tali immediately shuffled into her, throwing an arm over her stomach and waiting for Ziva to wrap hers around her.

Tony watched both of them, pale tired faces, and thought about calling in sick himself.

"You sure you don't want me to take the day off?"

"We will be fine. Have a good day."

Tony kissed her and then leaned over her stomach to do the same to Tali as best he could with her head tucked into Ziva's side.

"Do not come near me, you will get sick."

He ignored her as he kissed her again, on her clammy hairline. "I'll call later. Bye Tali sweetheart, I love you."

"Bye daddy."

"Bye to you too _sweetheart_. I love you." Tony repeated, giving Ziva a grin as she managed an eyeroll before pulling the covers up over her neck.

* * *

Work had been busy and though it meant he hadn't been able to check in as much as he'd hoped, in a way he had been glad of the distraction. He'd texted Ziva just after 10am but she hadn't replied for almost an hour, sleeping through the notification in a way that was so unlike how she used to be.

He decided to call before lunch, debating whether he should make the journey home to check on them face-to-face.

It took her a couple of rings to respond. “Hi.”

"How's the patient?"

“No more sickness for either of us. She has slept all day.”

“And you?”

“I read some of my book and have just had a slice of toast. We will see how my stomach responds.”

"My lunch hour starts in 5. Do you want me to come back to check in?"

"No, we are OK. Tali is fast asleep and I will probably do the same again."

"Sure?"

"I promise. How are you?”

“Me? I’m good.”

“You did not get much sleep.”

“Ah, that’s having kids for you. You two are the ones that are sick, so you just focus on yourself, alright? I’ll see you in a couple of hours.”

"I love you."

"Love you too. Sweet dreams."

The afternoon passed easier after talking with Ziva, although Tony made the fatal error of telling the uptight woman who sat opposite him that he had a sick partner and daughter at home and she spent the rest of the day pointedly using hand sanitiser and ducking out of his way.

He stopped at the pharmacy on his drive home to pick up a collection of things he thought might help the two of them, drinks and medication and lollipops. Things were quiet when he got back, everything still as he’d left it this morning. He pulled the curtains open and opened a couple of windows though it seemed redundant to get the last of the day’s light into the house.

The door to his and Ziva’s bedroom was ajar, the room dark. She and Tali were still tucked up in bed, blankets and tissues piled on top of them. Tony stopped in the doorway to watch them, wondering how two people who had caused so much carnage in the last day could look so peaceful.

He couldn't see most of Tali's body from this position, the top of her head the only part visible resting on top of her mother's ribs. She was lying on her back with her eyes closed but her hand was drawing lightly on Tali's back.

"You awake?" Tony whispered quietly, and Ziva stirred.

"I woke up when I heard the door unlock."

“Hey.”

“Hey.” Tony sat down on the sliver of bed next to Ziva and put his hand on her forehead. It was still a little clammy, but not as much as it had been this morning. “How are you feeling?”

“OK, I think. Better.”

“Tali?” Tony looked at her, tucked into Ziva’s side fast asleep with her head on Ziva’s stomach.

“She has slept most of the day.”

“Poor kid. I stopped and bought some stuff.” Tony dumped the contents of the bag onto the bed and Ziva lifted one of her arms lazily to look at the items.

She glanced away from them when Tony's hand went back to brushing her hair and smiled a little at him.

"Thank you for taking care of us. We're lucky."

Even though sincerity was their speciality now, it still took him a little aback. "All in the job description. Pay rise wouldn't hurt, but.."

"Shush." She tapped her hand against his quickly and then turned back to his purchases with a frown. "Why have you purchased 5 packets of gum?"

"Six, actually. Peppermint."

"Repeating the question."

“Thought they might settle your stomach.”

“My stomach is fine now.”

“Tali’s, then. Although gum, six year old. Bad idea. Y'know what, I'll just have it. There's this guy at work who never stops offering people gum, maybe I can trade him.."

"Tony.."

He looked at her expression properly for the first time. Her eyes were wide and her bottom lip was between her teeth. "What?"

"I don't think I am sick."


	2. Chapter 2

**_“I don’t think I am sick.”_ **

He looked at her for a second, waiting to gather the meaning of the words.

"You don't?"

“No. I forgot this is how it started with Tali – with a blocked nose, and then the sickness and tiredness.”

“But.. wait. Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”

“I think I’m pregnant.”

“You’re kidding.”

"My period has been very irregular since I had Tali because of the stress of everything that was going on so I did not give it much thought. But I checked my card transactions, and I did not realise how long it had been. I don't think I am sick."

"Um, wow. OK. Wow. Do you want me to go back to the pharmacy?"

“You want to find out now?”

“I mean.. _yeah_ , I do.”

"OK. Then yes, you should go to the pharmacy."

Ziva's voice sounded as pent up as his own chest which was fluttering with adrenaline.

"Crap. Alright. Yeah. OK. I'm gonna go do that."

"Tony.." Ziva pulled him towards her via his neck and looked him in the eye. "Breathe, OK? You are going to crash your car."

"Sorry. I'm just.. freaking out a little. In a good way." He jumped to clarify, though he was sure the excitement in his voice was evident.

"How about you? How are you feeling?"

"Nervous. Excited."

"Yeah?"

"Yes."

Tony broke into a smile and kissed her, being careful not to disturb Tali. When he pulled back she grabbed his hand briefly, and squeezed it.

“Buy two, just in case.”

"Get drinking while I'm gone."

* * *

Tony's mind was still racing as he retraced his journey back to the pharmacy. They'd discussed wanting to have another child - Ziva having grown up with siblings and Tony always feeling a little like he'd missed out not having them, but it had always been a hypothetical conversation. A knowledge of something that would happen one day, when they decided it to.

Then, Tali hadn't exactly been planned in advance either. Not for the first time he wondered how he would've reacted if Ziva had told him back then. If after months without talking, she'd called him out of the blue and said she was pregnant.

He knew now he'd have moved to Israel without stopping to breathe. It was interesting, to wonder where they'd be now if it had gone differently back then. He'd stopped being bitter about it somewhere between meeting Tali and finding Ziva holed up in a nondescript Egyptian apartment but his regrets about not being there for them still hung around when something happened to trigger it.

Something like this, he thought as he pulled into the car park. Another potential fresh start to add to the pile, ones he and Ziva had assured that they would get the chance to have together. One foot in front of the other, side by side, no matter what had happened in the past. Dwelling on those things wasn't going to change what was happening right now in front of them. They'd been given a second (third? fourteenth?) chance, and they weren't going to let it slip through their fingers.

He was still thinking this over when he entered the pharmacy, the door chiming to announce his arrival. How much things had changed between them since the old days – how much things could still change, were almost certain to change, depending on how this went today. He picked up 2 tests with the most professional-looking boxes, making a judgement call that they would somehow be more accurate than the rest.

The pharmacist who served him was the same one as half an hour ago, and she gave him a knowing smile as she rung up his purchases.

They didn't do the tests immediately when Tony got back - Tali was by that time hungry and Ziva was making dinner inbetween chugging from a large bottle of water.

"Y'sure food is a good idea? I don't want a repeat performance of last night."

"One of her friend's mother's texted me this afternoon when she found out Tali had not been in school. Apparently there is a 24 hour sickness bug travelling around. I think she can eat a little."

Tony ate quietly, casting glances between Tali and Ziva, who was mimicking him watching Tali’s every bite. She finished and jumped down from her seat.

“Can I play games on the tablet? You promised after dinner.”

“Yes, I did promise. Why don’t you go and get back into bed?”

Tali wasted no time in running out of the room in the direction of her parents’ bedroom, leaving them clearing the table. Ziva placed the plates in the sink while Tony stood watching, a little at a loss as to what to do.

She turned back to him and wiped water from her hands with a small smile.

“Did you get them?”

He pulled the folded bag out of his jacket pocket and passed it to her. She looked inside and then back up at him with her eyes a little wider.

“Are you coming with me?”

“Of course.”

Tony followed her into the bathroom.

* * *

Of all their bathroom encounters over the years, and all the things he'd fantasised about doing in them, Tony was certain that he'd never thought he'd find himself sat on the edge of a French bathtub with an 'ironic' wall-mounted fish that sings Frank Sinatra stuck to the tiles behind him handing Ziva various plastic sticks for her to pee on.

He chuckled to himself and Ziva caught his eye.

"You are thinking this is not our usual bathroom conversation, yes?"

"Pretty much."

Tony glanced over his shoulder into the bedroom. They'd left Tali in their bed playing her game but he could see her eyes had closed again, the tablet hanging loose from her fingers.

He stood up and pulled the bathroom door closed quietly.

"She's never been this quiet. Did we bring the wrong kid home from school yesterday?"

"Hush, don't be cruel."

Ziva flushed the toilet and redid her pants, placed the tests parallel to each other on the counter and washed her hands.

"How long do they take?" Ziva checked the boxes. "Sorry, should checked that when I was buying."

"It's OK, they all tend to take a similar amount of time. 2-3 minutes."

Tony set a timer on his phone for 180 seconds and showed it to Ziva.

"Kay, go."

He put his phone down on the counter next to the pregnancy tests. Ziva put the lid down on the toilet and sat angled towards him, their feet touching.

"What are you thinking?"

"Right now? I'm.. pretty damn excited."

"Try to hold that for a minute or two, OK? It may not be the case."

"I know. Doesn't mean I can't be excited."

Ziva smiled instinctively but he could sense something heavier hiding behind it.

"Hey, whatever happens happens. Right?"

"I know. I realise we did not plan this so soon, but.. we will be OK either way."

It wasn't worded as a question, but it sounded a little like one.

"Exactly." Tony looked at the tests, adrenaline pumping. Two blank screens still. "What happens when the time's up?"

"This one is lines - two is a positive. This one will say pregnant or not pregnant."

"What's 'pregnant' in French?"

"Um.. Enceinte? I think so – I am not 100% certain."

"Ah. We probably should've looked that one up."

Ziva's smile was bright but practiced. She had her hands gathered on her lap. Tony checked the timer: one more minute to go.

"I remember doing this with Tali. I could not leave the bathroom for hours afterwards. I was in there all day typing your number over and over. I just could not bring myself to-"

She cut herself off. Tony leaned forward to place his hand over hers and she turned them over to hold it between them.

"I'm here now, right? Take two."

It had always felt a little like a secret language to Tony: the way they could read each other, silently, pick up on the slightest change in facial expression or even the way they moved their eyes and understand what was going on.

He saw it in her now. The something else she was biting back.

“Ziva…”

"I meant what I said before. We are so lucky to have you in our lives."

"As if I could be anywhere else."

Ziva's smile spread to her eyes and she leaned forward to kiss him, the edge of the sink creating an uncomfortable barrier between them on one side.

They were interrupted by the sound of Tony's phone timer going off and broke apart, staring at each other.

"I'm not done with you. After we check the pee sticks."

"Romance is not dead."

"You ready to look? Wait, I don't think I can. You look."

"Are you sure?"

"No, stop. Let's do it together."

"Close your eyes."

"Count of three. One. Two."

Tony opened his eyes. Two thick, pink lines stared back at him. On the other, a single word in French.

"Holy crap."

Tony stood up instinctively and Ziva did the same. He looked at the tests for another couple of seconds before finally looking up to Ziva's face.

"You're pregnant."

He watched the emotions cycle through her face: shock mixed with excitement and fear and happiness and something else he couldn't place that had her searching his own expression. He smiled, harder than he'd ever known possible, but this didn't seem to serve it. Still, though, she closed the gap between them with a kiss. She laughed, disbelieving, against his lips.

When they broke apart he pulled her into him and wrapped his arms around her back. He wondered if she could feel his heart pounding against her ear and as if in response she held him tighter.

"I can't believe this."

"Neither can I. It did not even occur to me as a possibility until today."

He felt her smile against his chest as she breathed in deeply. He pressed a kiss to her hair and she moved her head back to look up at him and he placed a second on her lips before they parted.

Tony sat back down on the bath to gather his bearings, but Ziva stayed stood up looking at the tests on the counter, surprise and happiness and nerves still playing on her features. Tony craned his neck to follow her, his eyes slightly blurry.

"What does that mean, 3+?"

"It predicts I am more than 3 weeks pregnant."

"Oh. That.. makes sense."

"Please, do not tell me you thought it meant we are having 3 or more babies."

"I mean, maybe, for like a second."

"If we are having 3 or more babies, we are never having sex again. Carrying one DiNozzo is hard enough work - Tali made as many movements and kicks as an entire football team."

"Sure that's my influence? _Really_?"

The air was giddy and a little disbelieving: talking and joking as though this was something that happened every day, and a part of him was encouraging it out of her to settle the nerves he could see were still jangling.

"Yes, I am certain. Because it was always when I was trying to get to sleep and that kind of attention-seeking is definitely a you-behaviour."

Tony copied Ziva’s smile and shuffled back to sink his body into the bath, leaning his back against the back wall. She watched him with a frown.

" _What_ are you doing?"

He patted the porcelain next to him. "Come and sit."

She looked at him like he was insane but still got up and stepped into the bath, sitting down beside him. Ziva crossed her legs but Tony hung his, knees over edge, feet dangling over the side.

Neither of them said anything for a few moments. Tony watched her features as she stared out ahead of them at the far wall and then back at him, her mind still clearly whirring at a million miles an hour.

“OK, I am sat. Now what?”

"You said when you found out about Tali you stayed in here for hours. Tryna' replicate that. But with better associations, hopefully."

Tony shrugged and he wasn't sure why he felt a twinge of self-consciousness about saying it, feeling so misplaced now. Ziva touched his cheek affectionately, watching his words percolate in his own head, but didn't say anything.

"We're having a baby."

"Yes, we are."

"Anthony DiNozzo Jr Jr?"

"I think 2 is more than enough, don't you?"

"I don't know about that."

"I have already given you one mini-me, I am not sure I am prepared to carry another one for 9 months."

"OK, compromise. Middle name Anthony, he takes after you."

"I think that will be his decision. Until then, he can just focus on making me sick."

"I'm sorry. I love you." He lifted her hand and kissed it. "How long did the sickness last with Tali?"

"It was about week 14 by the time I could keep food down in the mornings."

"You're kidding."

Ziva chuckled and leaned forward to brush her lips against his briefly. "There is no need to look so scared."

"I'm not scared! I was just.. sympathetic."

"Oh, really?"

“Hopefully it’s better for you this time.”

“I hope so. He would not dare put me through that again.”

"You keep saying 'he'."

"Hm, I am not sure why. It could be either."

"You always wanted one of each, right? It was on your list."

She had that same unreadable look on her face again, though he wasn’t sure exactly what it was he made her think of. "Yes, but that was just a.. silly list I made when I was a child, Tony."

"It wasn't silly." He corrected, thinking about the new one they'd written in its place. One that didn't mention children, the irony being Ziva would be pregnant within hours of writing it. "But if we're putting bets I'm saying it's a boy."

"Yes?"

"But hey, who knows. _Could_ still be triplets. Or twins."

"Are there twins in your family?"

"Just my cousins Susan and Sharon. And my other cousins Hallie and Annie."

"You did not think to tell me this?!"

"Kidding, kidding." Tony shook his head, smirking at Ziva's horrified expression. "Wow, you've never seen the Parent Trap, huh?"

"I think the Parent Trap is what I am stuck in with you."

"Ahh, get outta here. It's probably not twins. Two kids, though, huh? Do we need a minivan? How many kids is that?"

"Relax, Tony."

"Oh no, I'm gonna be freaking out for a while."

"How long exactly?"

"18 years and 9 months, give or take."

"It is sweet that you think we will stop worrying once they turn into adults."

"I'll tell you one thing, they are _not_ becoming cops. Either of them. Or.. ninja assassin type people. They can work in an elementary school or a patisserie where nobody's gonna murder them."

"You are being ridiculous. Tali still wants to work on the moon. The baby probably does not even have features yet."

"Ew, what do they look like?"

"When we go for a scan and you can see for yourself. It is not 'ew', it's your child."

Tony was smiling at her so broadly then, it made her take pause.

"What?"

“I love you.”

“You said that already.”

“I _really_ love you.”

He did that now - making up for lost time, letting the words spill out every time he had a slight feeling of it to make up for the years he'd fought against it.

He hadn’t expected Ziva’s reaction to be her eyes filling with tears.

"What's going through your head?”

"I am just a little in shock."

"Come on, Ziva. Y'think I don't know by now when something's bothering you?"

"I'm sorry." 

"For what?"

"All of this. With Tali, I.. deprived you of all of this." The words flooded out of her quickly. The thing she'd been holding onto.

"I thought we agreed we weren't gonna guilt trip ourselves over the past anymore."

"It is easy for you to say you have nothing to be guilty about. Look how happy you are."

Tony took Ziva's hand and placed it between his, holding it tightly and patting her palm. “I don’t want you thinking like that on my behalf. You're the best mom I could ever wish for my kids. Yeah - some things happened in the past that weren't how we would've planned. Things we regret now. But that's never ever going to change, OK? We have an amazing, perfect daughter and that's because of both of us. Me and you. We're in this together."

"I know. It is just, I.." Ziva wiped her eye and took a breath. The hand that wasn’t encased between Tony’s came to his leg and picked slowly at the fabric of his trousers. "It is still hard for me to think about the things that happened back then.”

“I think it’s natural that something like this would bring those feelings back up. Don’t be hard on yourself.”

“I hated doing this without you.” She met his eye again, willing him to understand the weight behind what she was saying. “I was miserable and terrified for so much of my pregnancy. I was so depressed, so anxious, so wrapped up in my own head, I did not even stop to process that there was another option. That I could have called you and you would have come, in spite of everything. And now I see you like this and I... it is just hard."

"I know it is. And y’know what? You're right. I wasn't here last time, and it sucks. It'll always suck, nothing's gonna change that. But what we _can_ do is correct it now. I'm gonna be at every appointment, every minute of every week, every feed, every parent-teacher conference until the day I die."

"Not _every_ feed."

"Watch me."

"You will not sleep for a month."

"Then I won't sleep for a month." Tony shrugged. "Hey. I'm gonna be there, OK? For all of it. Not just for me, because I missed out, but because you missed out on me being there too." He could see Ziva go to object to that: to say she didn't deserve it, that it had been her fault, but he stopped her with a hand on her cheek. "I know the last few years have been hell, but I can't regret any of that if it got us here. You’re not on your own now. You've got me. And Tali. And it's gonna be us 4 against the world. Right?"

"She is going to be so excited."

“You think we should tell her now?”

“No. Let’s leave it for a couple of days. I want to make a doctor’s appointment first to check everything is alright.”

“Everything will be _fine_.”

“I hope so, but I would prefer the reassurance. And I think I need time to just..” She exhaled and didn’t finish the sentence.

“It’s gonna be OK. I promise, honey. We can talk about this again tomorrow when we’ve both got some sleep and we’re not sat in a bathtub.”

Ziva smiled then, looking at the porcelain and their surroundings. “OK, we can talk again tomorrow. But you are never getting out of this bath – do you realise that?"

"You always love saying how much stronger you are than me."

"I am pregnant, Tony. No heavy lifting."

"Huh. I'll remind you you said that in a few months when you're refusing to take it easy."

"I am sure you will."

Ziva lifted her legs over the edge of the bath and pulled herself out. Tony stayed where he was, feeling the pain from the unnatural position on his lower back.

"Y'know what, it's fine. One day Tali will be an adult and she'll be strong enough to get me out. I'll just wait 'till then."

"OK, you stay there. But, Tony…”

“What?”

“I’m really excited. I am – in spite of everything else.”

“I know.”

“Good. So long as you understand that. I know sometimes it is difficult to decipher what is going through my head, but I love you very much. All three of you. And you make me happier than you can imagine.”

“I don’t have a problem figuring you out anymore.”

“Maybe that is just what I want you to think.”

“Nah, I don’t think so.”

Tony smiled as Ziva winked at him as she left the bathroom.


End file.
